The Australian Air Corps (AAC) was a temporary military formation that existed in the interval between the disbandment of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) of World War I and the establishment of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1921. Raised in January 1920, the AAC was commanded by Major William Anderson, a former AFC pilot. Many members of the AAC were also from the AFC and went on to join the RAAF. Although part of the Australian Army, the AAC was overseen by a board of senior officers that included members of the Royal Australian Navy. The primary purpose of the corps was to maintain assets of the Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria, but it also undertook several pioneering activities: AAC personnel set an Australian altitude record that stood for a decade, made the first non-stop flight between Sydney and Melbourne, and took the country's initial steps in the field of aviation medicine. The RAAF inherited Point Cook and most of its initial equipment from the AAC.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Air_Corps
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1700:
An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.0 occurred off the Pacific Northwest coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records of tsunamis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake
1905:
The 3,107-carat (621 g; 1.37 lb) Cullinan Diamond, the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, was discovered at the Premier Mine in Gauteng, South Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinan_Diamond
1952:
Spontaneous anti-British riots erupted in Cairo following the killings of 50 Egyptian auxiliary police officers the previous day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_fire
1972:
JAT Flight 367 exploded in mid-air over Czechoslovakia; the only survivor of the 28 on board, flight attendant Vesna Vulović, fell 10,160 m (33,330 ft), setting the record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
emu: 1. (obsolete) A cassowary (genus Casuarius). 2. A large flightless bird native to Australia, Dromaius novaehollandiae. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/emu
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Twenty-five years ago I couldn't walk down the street without being recognized. Now I can put a cap on, walk anywhere and no one pays me any attention. They don't ask me about my movies and they don't ask me about my salad dressing because they don't know who I am. Am I happy about this? You bet. --Paul Newman https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Newman